While he did not do enough to be considered a Ballon d’Or contender, Rashford’s numbers in 2022-23 should have earned him a place on the initial shortlist at the expense of many others.
The 30-player list of nominees for the 2023 Ballon d'Or award was announced on Wednesday, but there was no place for Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.
Rashford was among notable absentees from a list with five-time winner Cristiano Ronaldo and AC Milan’s Rafael Leao among those missing.
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However, in a list that has Julian Alvarez, Nicollo Barela, Randal Kolo Muani and even Bukayo Saka, shouldn't Rashford had a spot on it?
Rashford was mainly the reason United secured Champions League football after a year in the cold and also helped deliver the Carabao Cup, the first trophy for the Red Devils in six years.
The United forward had 41 goal contributions in 56 games in 2022-23, having scored 30 goals, the first time ever to reach that mark, while providing 11 assists.
He also added three more for England at the 2022 World Cup, making him joint-top scorer for the Three Lions at the global tournament.
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Of the aforementioned, none of them reached Rashford’s tally of goals and assists last season); Kolo Muani (23 goals, 17 assists), Saka (15 goals, 11 assists), Barella (nine goals, 10 assists), and Alvarez (17 goals, five assists).
At the World Cup, Saka, just like Rashford had three goals, Alvarez had four, Kolo Muani one while Barella’s Italy did not qualify for the tournament.
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To further strengthen his case, only Erling Haaland (52 goals, nine assists), Lionel Messi (32 goals, 25 assists) Kylian Mbappe (41 goals, 10 assists) and Mohamed Salah (30 goals, 16 assists) had more goal contribution than Rashford.
He even trumped big hitters like Karim Benzema (31 goals, six assists), Antoine Griezmann (16 goals, 19 assists), Harry Kane (32 goals, five assists) and Lautaro Martinez (28 goals, 11 assists) while equaling Robert Lewandowski (33 goals, eight assists).
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Rashford literally carried United on his back, scoring crucial goals in games against Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Barcelona as well as one in their 2-0 triumph over Newcastle in the Carabao Cup final.
In February, Rashford broke his scoring record after netting 13 goals since the turn of the year and in seven consecutive games at Old Trafford.
At the time, he had just scored twice against Leicester City to take his season’s tally to 24, a whopping 17 of those coming in as many games since the end of the 2022 World Cup.
His goals helped Erik ten Hag’s men to third place in the Premier League, Carabao Cup as well as the FA Cup final.
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While he did not do enough to be considered a Ballon d’Or contender, his contribution in 2022-23 should have put Rashford at least in the 30-man shortlist.